Thinking Spatially - AP Human Geography and Current Issues

The Syrian war has caused many people to flee from their country, their home. These refugees are leaving the only place they’ve ever known, and usually taking nothing but the clothes on their back, to move to a new place. Their journey is extremely perilous though. Most are trying to get to Europe, Germany being a refuge, many try to get there. But on their way, they usually have to cross the Mediterranean. So far the death toll on the Mediterranean is 3,740 for just 2016, and these are just the deaths we know of.  Thousands of people are dying from lack of safety or lack of trustworthy resources. The danger these refugees are facing are scamming and lack of safety. Many refugees [pay all the money they have left for a boat to Europe. Many times they are scammed or die at sea. Some boats are brought out and then left, halfway through their journey. Others are not approved in terms of safety but still start across the sea. Many have died because no government wants to provide a...

The purpose of this blog post is to bring to light the issue of many territories and States wanting to rule themselves or become sovereign states. This is a very controversial and widespread issue due to the fact that many places want to rule themselves instead of the country that they are currently in making up all of their rules, declaring War and Peace, and imposing taxes and levies and all sorts of other acts that only a governing power can enthrall. This issue is not only one of the past, such as the United States having a civil war over whether or not they had the right to break off of the United States and become their own country, but it is a very current one in which many states or territories, mostly in Africa, want to have free rule over themselves instead of having another country decide whether or not laws should be passed or how they should run the territory. This is even relevant here in the US where many Native American tribes want to have the right of Sovereign State p...

We live in a world full of waste. With a project that is “The Largest Cleanup in History,” This will allow us to catch part of the five tons of plastic that is put into the ocean every year. It is established that this project could catch almost half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the next ten years if it is finalized and established by 2020. Several offshore companies, (SBM Offshore, Heerema and Basilisk) also there are several institutes,(IMARES, Deltares and MARIN) are doing extensive research and getting together trying to establish this ocean cleanup. They believe we can initiate the cleanup by 2020. The ocean cleanup is very important. So much trash has been put into the oceans, there is actually a ocean garbage patch, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These people are building several prototypes,some have even been successful. But now there is one established in the North Sea. They put it in the North Sea because there it is one of the most violent seas there is. A small...

The distended stretch marks of overpopulation sprawl over almost every country on Earth; however, few countries have come as close as China is to rupturing that dainty fabric of carrying capacity and human rights issues. The Earth will usually heal itself, given enough time… if not, humans have to step in and try to fix our mess ourselves. China’s most infamous coping mechanism started in 1979: the One Child Policy. Made to forcibly limit the natural increase rate, mostly what it accomplished was illuminating some of the most garish flaws in humanity: the inequality and prevalence of the patriarchy and the widespread corruption of government. For years the fact of China’s ‘missing children’ has been ominously interpreted by demographers and other political scientists; census takers have simply assumed that the children, mostly girls, were either aborted or sent away to some remote location. Now, the ugly truth is coming to light - and as with most ugly truths, the monster is not ...

Today when most people think of Immigration, they picture Mexican citizens illegally coming to the U.S., but that’s not even close to the truth. Immigrants bring trillions of dollars to the economy, and their importance will only grow with time in the United States, as the baby boomers are moving out of the workforce causing labor demands to tenfold. The threat of immigrants being deported has many concerned not only for the members of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals but for the future of the United States economy. Mexican citizens stand by a border wall to the U.S. Migration has been happening for around 80,000 years starting from Africa. This voluntary movement is a result of wanting more out of life. Ernst Georg Ravenstein stated in his laws of migration, “ Bad or oppressive laws, heavy taxation, an unattractive climate, uncongenial social surroundings, and even compulsion... All have produced and are still producing climates of migration.” He goes on to say tha...

On September 20, 2017, a category four hurricane, now known as Hurricane Maria, had a devastating attack on Puerto Rico and other neighboring islands. Hurricane Maria has caused hundreds of problems for the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico such as knocking out all power, water, and fuel sources, internet connections, and air traffic control systems. Along with this United States territory,  the contiguous United States was also traumatized by two additional hurricanes, known as Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey that hit the coasts of Florida and Texas. All three of these storms have made the front page of national news, causing victims to beg for help and rescue as soon as anyone can give it. Luckily, the United States is blessed to have thousands of relief efforts and companies that dedicate their working lives to issues like this, though most of them are far away from any islands like Puerto Rico.   The aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico, was horrendous. ...